Jury selection began Monday in U.S. District Court in Knoxville for three peace activists accused of sabotage at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The three Transform Now Plowshares activists — 83-year-old Megan Rice, 64-year-old Michael Walli and 56-year-old Greg Boertje-Obed — if convicted could spend 20 years in prison. The felony count under the Sabotage Act carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

They have acknowledged cutting through chain link fences, spray-painting messages inside the plant and hurling human blood against a wall of the nation’s storage center for bomb-grade uranium — the $549 million Highly-Enriched Uranium Manufacturing Facility (HEUMF) — during the early morning house of July 28, 2012. They carried with them backpacks containing candles, spray paint, flowers, hammers, bolt cutter tools, matches, a banner, a Bible and copies of a letter.

According to The Associated Press, the trio argue that their actions were necessary because nuclear weapons “threaten the well-being of our entire planet.”

The trio is part of the Transform Now Plowshares group, an activist group that protests against nuclear weapons. Members protest yearly outside of Y-12 along with members of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance and others. Several have been arrested on a variety of offenses over the years and have served time in jail and prison.

Recently, however, the National Nuclear Security Administration extended the boundary fence at the Y-12 plant along Scarboro Road. The fence went up primarily to restrict public access to U.S. government property in front of the entrance sign and along the side of New Hope Center, the area where the protesters have been holding demonstrations for years.

A group involved in peace vigils and nuclear weapons protests have filed a civil rights complaint in U.S. District Court because of the fence. The complaint accuses the National Nuclear Security Administration of denying them their First Amendment right to freedom of speech and the right to assemble in connection. The high court denied the complaint and the demonstrators used an area across Scarboro Road for their most recent peace vigil.

The trial today comes after a federal grand jury in Knoxville returned a three-count superseding indictment against the three activists in December 2012, adding an additional count of injuring national-defense premises. Earlier in August 2012, a federal grand jury in Knoxville returned a three-count indictment against them for destroying property within the Y-12 plant, depredation against property of the United States in an amount exceeding $1,000 and trespassing onto U.S. Department of Energy property.

Their much-reported security breach caused several domino effects for the plant, NNSA and its security force, WSI Oak Ridge, a subcontractor to B&W Y-12.

Soon after the breach, B&W Y-12 made changes in key leadership personnel; security system elements to service; and refined and recalibrated alarm system components to enhance reliability.

Page 2 of 2 - Also because of the breach, NNSA decided not to renew the WSI Oak Ridge contract for security.